Respite
by Nutzoide
Summary: With the BSL incident behind her Samus returns to the Cassidi station for a little time away from her job and her suit. However, things don't go to plan.


Respite  
  
The legal bit: Metroid and all material that comprises it is owned by various people, one of whom I am not. All original characters, situations etc. are my own property. This is being done free of charge for a little enjoyment, so there's no need to sue, hunt or cause me bodily harm.  
  
The non-legal bit: This story is set after Metroid Fusion and is also lightly shoujo-ai flavoured.

* * *

Respite  
  
- A Metroid Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -  
  
"Thank you Aran, you are cleared to dock, bay seventeen. Good to have you back."  
  
Samus nodded to the face on her display. All he would ever see of her was the red helmet and green visor that would be appearing on his own screen, but then that _was_ the face of Samus Aran as far as many people were concerned. If she hadn't made as big a name for herself as she had over the years most people wouldn't even have known she was a she until she spoke to them. At least this time around she would get some well earned time to herself, and taste a little real recycled air. "Thank you Cassidi. Commencing docking. Aran out."

* * *

It did grate on the bounty hunter slightly that when a regular Joe or Joette wanted to get changed they just removed a few layers of cloth. When she wanted to it meant three hours in surgery and another hour of electrostatic nerve therapy, but as she walked down the hall the sense of freedom was euphoric. No stares at a large shouldered cybernetic thing that had become a byword for power and the often impending horror that was the metroid species, just the occasional glance at a tall and attractive blonde woman.  
  
Nobody considered for even a moment that she was the imposing gold, red and green presence that kept coming back to the station, and that suited her very well. No more assisted muscle support, no more heads-up display, and no more automated sanitary equipment. It was strange, almost like slumming it. Not having the suit deprived her of so many things that she had grown accustomed to, almost to the point of dependence, but it was a chance to be free for a little while. And with that pleasant thought she strode into the bar.

* * *

The barman nodded at the woman. He got all types in his dimly lit little corner of the station, but every once in a while someone would turn up that stood out simply by being there. Perhaps it was the fact that it was hard to define her age, or maybe her almost roguish outfit. The tight jeans and red tank top were simple enough but her jacket was tied at the bottom, and her left arm sat bare on the tabletop while the right wore its sleeve and a black glove concealed her hand. Coupled with her attractive blue eyes and long blonde hair she was a hard face to forget, so he could remember from her last visit that the glove hid a jointed metal coupling system that protruded slightly from her skin, like a metal skeleton's hand half buried in her own with a linked line of synaptic ports running halfway up her forearm.  
  
That meant she was probably a heavy tech worker of some sort, though she never spoke about herself. It also meant that the sound of her rapping knuckles at the bar was instantly noticeable, and she wasn't the type of customer you kept waiting long. This type weren't likely to get rowdy over such little things, but they were good customers when they turned up, and they kept the riff-raff out.  
  
Said riff-raff that week however were also in, and seemed to have decided to take their chances if their noise level and lack of subtlety were anything to go by. He got the woman her drink and left her to herself as the youths' attentions focused on her. It was his long experience that the quiet mysterious types didn't rise easily, and Samus didn't disappoint him, paying them the same attention anyone else would have paid the fly that slowly crawled across the unwatched television monitor.  
  
It took another two shots for one of the boys to work up the guts to finally swagger over to her. The barman knew this one couldn't have pulled a credit card out of a dead thief's hand in his inebriated condition let alone pick up a woman, and he suspected the he would only have fared a little better when sober, but that wasn't his business. He just gave the bouncer at the door a nod to let him know he might be needed.

* * *

Patricia Lands wasn't quite what people tended to expect when they went looking to hire the best technician and machine worker on the station. She was attractive if you happened to like youthful seeming girls who didn't pay any attention to their looks. Her cute appearance took years off her, so people generally thought she was still in her teens. Her dark brown hair was ragged and almost criminally short and the tech's overalls or lounging outfits she wore didn't do a thing for her otherwise pleasant, if rather slight figure. Summed up in three words she would have been 'schoolgirl grease monkey'. She'd decked the client who'd called her that.  
  
Not that she was a violent person by any means, she just didn't have the time or patience for arrogant idiots. Being good at what you do tends to get you more work than you can handle, as she had found out all too soon. She was one of the fortunate few for whom skipping school had paid off, and she'd spent that time tinkering and heckling the people on the station as it was being built, learning what she wanted to through observation and unofficial understudying. After all, the school had been planetside back then, and nobody had the time to make sure a child who had smuggled herself up was successfully taken back down again.  
  
That being the way it went Patricia had missed out on her social life altogether, but in return she had become the most accomplished hand at mechanics, electrics and cybernetics on the man-made city that was Cassidi station. The only reason she wasn't working for the hi-tech researchers and lab workers was that she preferred being able to pick her jobs.  
  
One of those jobs, some years ago, had been an up and coming bounty hunter the lab tech-heads had sent her way after a minor problem with some serious alien cybernetic hardware that they alone hadn't been able to deal with. Quite a few people said that she was the only reason Samus Aran kept coming back, but Patricia didn't believe that for a second. There wasn't always a new request or commission when Samus showed up, and she was too modest to take it as an ego trip. Still, the pair of them had forged an unlikely friendship in the times the hunter did return, so she did wonder why she hadn't come to see her yet. She'd seen the ship arrive hours ago, but she tried to put it out of her mind and went back to her wiring. It didn't really matter if she wasn't Samus' first port of call, but having more time to think about her news didn't help her worried nerves.

* * *

"I'm not in the mood. Go away."  
  
The drunken youth just grinned as his fourth attempt at conversation was blown off. "Oh, I can supply the mood babe, trust me." His mistake was putting his hand on her mostly bare left shoulder.  
  
Samus let out an annoyed sigh and looked down at the offending appendage. "If I don't want to talk to you, why should I want your hand there, or anywhere else except away from me?"  
  
"Hey, lighten up. A guy can buy a girl a drink at least, can't he?" He emphasised that with a light squeeze on the shoulder.  
  
In a second Samus was facing him, her gloved hand right under his chin, her thumb, index and little finger extended. It would have been more impressive if her gun had been there to crack itself open right at his neck. As it was the youth just backed up a step, hands held up but still with his smirk on his face. "Woah girl, what is that, some weird voodoo martial arts?"  
  
Samus looked at the hand in question, as if remembering something, then turned back to the bar and her drink. The barman glanced over just in time to see him pluck up the last of his courage and return his hand for a final line. What that got him was a frown from the woman, who clenched her right fist around her drink, then swung her left upwards from the elbow, sending the backs of her knuckles into his nose, knocking him to the floor.  
  
As far as the barman was concerned the punk had got exactly what he had asked for, but he wasn't about to have this in his bar, and before either side could make another move he had motioned to his bouncer. The huge man by the door picked up two of the youths and bodily hefted them outside, his friends soon following, while the barman calmly walked over to Samus. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm sure you understand."  
  
The blonde nodded, finishing the last of her drink. "The atmosphere's gone. Good bourbon though."

* * *

Patricia knew one of her few friends was there as the sound of rapping knuckles against the door of her quarters resounded through the room. She had only told three people to knock instead of using the door's communicator. The old dock technician who she had studied under was on planetside leave, her other friend Jill, who she had lived with growing up was now married and back on earth, so that left the hunter whose commissions made up a third of her yearly income, and who was now the only person likely to want to see her for anything except work.  
  
Even though Samus spent more than half of her life in that suit of hers, the source of many a commission for the young tech prodigy, Patricia never failed to find the person she knew was inside. After years of study, freak accidents, and biomechanical marvels that she could never hope to fully understand in her lifetime the helmet of the bizarre armour was the only part that could be removed with any ease any more. However, even when she left it on somehow it didn't stop them communicating at all, though Patricia always preferred it if at least the visor was up. Samus could say a lot with those crystal blue eyes of hers.  
  
She put down her soldering laser and got the door. For a moment she didn't even realise who she was looking at. The bounty hunter so rarely removed that suit completely that it was almost like looking at a stranger for a second. "Oh! Sam, hi! I was wondering if you'd turn up this time. What happened to the suit?"  
  
She ushered her friend in and Patricia went back to her work bench while Samus flopped down onto the bed. She wasn't allowed to do that in her armour since it ruined the mattress, and also looked rather stupid. Her technician friend however had never bothered with more than the one chair in her apartment room. "I needed some time unplugged Trish. I also thought I'd get a drink before coming round, but that didn't quite go to plan. I'd forgotten how much it can hurt when you hit someone without an alloy around your fist."  
  
Patricia rolled her eyes. "You step one foot on the station and instead of coming to see me you get into a bar fight? Why didn't you use your right?"  
  
Samus shucked off her jacked and removed her glove, looking at the metal that ran across the limb's skin. "I didn't want to do _that_ much damage. He was an idiot, not a marked target."  
  
"Maybe, but he wouldn't have done it again!" She gave a cute lop sided grin and sat back in her chair, the machine behind her on the table forgotten for now. "So what has the illustrious metroid hunter managed to do now she's killed all the metroids?"  
  
Samus shrugged from where she lay on the bed, a little annoyed. "I get enough of that from my contracts, I don't need it here too Trish. I... ended up laying a few ghosts to rest."  
  
Patricia gave her a sympathetic look. "Chozo?"  
  
Samus nodded. "They were dead before I got there. That was my last lead. But you're wrong Trish. I'm not naive or egotistic enough to think I've wiped the metroids out. I should have told you last time: the Federation has them now. They cloned them. They were how I escaped BSL with my skin intact, even if I had to fight my way out."  
  
Patricia stared at her wide eyed. "But... why would they do that? The culture antidote saved your life but..."  
  
Samus nodded, still looking at the ceiling. "The Federation isn't stupid, and I was right when I started thinking there was more to them than they were admitting to. Those things are the biggest natural threat there is, and that means people aren't going to let them go so easily if they can turn that threat to their advantage. The Pirates have been trying for years. It's really no surprise the Federation does it now they have the chance. What if they go further?"  
  
"Sam," Patricia said, both warning and pleading her friend not to dredge up that name again.  
  
"A mother metroid. The prime queen. I hadn't been truly terrified of a metroid in so long, but when I finally broke that thing out of its shell what was left... it looked almost human. Like a face with nuclei for eyes, and it was like it knew what I was and how it wanted to deal with me. It wasn't just aware Trish; it was intelligent beyond any metroid I've ever seen."  
  
The haunted look in Samus' eyes as she sat up worried Patricia more that she had done in a long time. "I was helpless. Nothing I did could hurt it. It knew how to absorb and adapt to everything I tried. But I found out I could hurt it with its own energy because of the phazon infection, and that was all that saved me. It was pure luck."  
  
"The Phazon cannon," Patricia said for her.  
  
After the incident on Tallon Four Samus had asked her to make a weapon modification for her suit. A beam cannon that used phazon. It was the biggest commission she'd ever asked for. She'd been given the samples and technical data Samus had copied from her suit and had been working on the weapon ever since. But she'd never liked it. There was too much about Phazon that was unknown, and harnessing that power was far too complicated.  
  
"This prime metroid, it's long dead already Sam. It's been dead for two years. So are the rest of the metroids there."  
  
Samus knew better than that, and the determination in her eyes showed it. "I doubt it'll ever be over. I told you, even if I have wiped out every last wild one still out there, people aren't so willing to let them go. The phazon virus cured itself, so I can't rely on that to save me if there is a next time. I need the gun."  
  
But to her surprise Patricia shook her head. "No."  
  
Samus' eyes were wide. "No? What do you mean no?! No you can't or no you won't?!"  
  
"With enough time and equipment, I might be able to find a way of doing it, but I won't. It's too dangerous for you..."  
  
"It's a risk I'm willing to take!" Samus practically shouted at her friend. "Better that than falling to a queen! What if there is another nest of metroids sitting secluded somewhere out there? Or maybe there's someone crazy enough to make another prime in their search for power or a weapon or whatever! And even if they are all dead, every one of my beams can be countered somehow and the pirates have been wising up to that! A phazon beam would be effective on anything, even if it was just a last resort!"  
  
Patricia just continued from where she'd been interrupted. "...and it's too dangerous for me."  
  
As a dumbstruck Samus stared at her she got up and turned around, pulling her loose top over her head. Across the lower left of her bare back a huge shape was outlined in scars, with three jagged spikes rising up and across to the right of her otherwise clear skin.  
  
"Wh... What happened?" Samus stammered out, at a loss as to what to think.  
  
"Simple," Patricia replied in a quiet voice, "My hand slipped. Just a little."  
  
"But..."  
  
"But what? I'm the best?" She asked as she pulled her top back on and sat back down. "No-one is infallible Sam. Phazon as a fluid and phazon as an energy are polar opposites, and it's tricky getting it to work without wasting it. The second I realised I'd missed a connection in the relay coil I ran for the lab door. Next thing I knew I was in hospital with over half the muscles in my back burned off and I was missing a kidney. They got there in time, apparently the burst could be heard across the station and it shorted power to the block, but the wound was irradiated."  
  
Wound, Samus thought. That was the biggest understatement she'd ever heard.  
  
"So either they patched me up and I spent the rest of my life in a wheelchair, or they try a culture graft onto phazon-flashed tissue. Thankfully the culture took, but the radiation made sure it left the scarring at the edges." She locked eyes with Samus. "You're one of the few people I have, but I'm not going to try again, even for you."  
  
"Yeah," Samus said, her sense of responsibility piling guilt on top of her for what had happened due to her request, and for acting the way she had about the matter. She tried not to let it show. "It's okay Trish. I'm just... glad you're okay."

* * *

Samus found herself lying awake that night, the afternoon's revelations playing on her mind. It was no secret to the few that really knew her that she had had a hard life, but she wasn't bitter or even concerned about that. It was how she lived, and she had accepted that a long time ago in spite of receiving far more than her fair share of 'excitement'. Sure, it was exiting when you looked back with the memory of the adrenaline rushing through your system, but living it out was a different matter all together. However, when her life started affecting those around her it worried her.  
  
Samus was no stranger to the hospital table, from the Chozo finding her in the bloody aftermath of a pirate raid to the incomprehensible mystery of what her suit had now become and how that in turn had affected her. All the battles for the last however many years it was now. It was one thing if she ended up under the knife because of the way her life had turned out, but having it happen to someone else, especially a friend like Patricia, was another matter entirely. Samus wasn't one who liked dealing with guilt. True, she ran through in her mind, nobody did, but she usually had so little need to deal with it. Especially from things she had no control over. At least if she could conclusively say she had screwed up it served as a good, if unpleasant reminder that might just save her life one day. This time was different. She hadn't done anything wrong, and neither had Trish, but the guilt fell on her all the same for being the one who had made the commission.  
  
Turning it over and over in her head wasn't helping. Looking back, Trish had been a godsend. When the med-techs had been unable to deal with her malfunctioning suit the girl had been called in and in a few hours the armour was back under control.  
  
Armour. Could it even be called that any more? It wasn't just a metal suit now. It could be virally infected. It was no longer something she simply put on and plugged her right hand into. It grafted itself right into her nervous system. It was hardly wetware, and considering all the connections it made it was a wonder that it was removable at all any more, but it knew how to connect itself back up, tracing nerve relays and hooking itself into her body via energy lines or even direct nerve contact. The small scars around major nerve junctions were proof of that, and it took less than a minute to for it to hook back into her, but she didn't like the fact it felt like a return to the way things should be as much as it was uncomfortable. She hadn't been out of it six hours and she could already feel the 'phantom limb syndrome' of weapons, image modes and capabilities that simply weren't there now. Falling asleep was so much easier in the suit. She could consciously get her body to relax, black out the visor and be dreaming in minutes.  
  
She'd been staring at the ceiling for over an hour now.

* * *

Sam hadn't been by to see her that day.  
  
Suddenly that thought seemed rather silly to the young tech specialist. To almost everyone else she was Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who deserved your respect, and a healthy amount of caution. To her she was Sam, a rather quiet but driven friend who she chatted inanely with when she was lucky enough to have her there. Patricia wasn't really sure when Samus had become Sam in her mind. She was sure the hunter hadn't liked her for a while. She had been in pain and shaken that her suit had actually malfunctioned but all Patricia could do was enthuse over the wayward armour. It wasn't a good way to get to know someone, that was for sure, but at least it had been before the Zebes incidents and Samus' slow climb into cult fame. All they had talked about was Chozo technology, but with that had come talk of the people themselves, a matter close to Samus' heart.  
  
And Samus had asked her to make some augmentations to the suit's life support system, one of the few things Patricia had managed to suss out then. One month and a mission directive later she was back, and what little conversation they had had was cordial, and underlined with a sense of mutual respect that each side rarely showed. When she'd come back after her mission Patricia had wanted a full briefing on how it had gone, especially on how well she had adapted her work to suit Samus' armour. The hunter never visited the station for long, but that week they'd spent most of it around each other. When it came time for her to leave Patricia had simply said 'See ya Sam,' a friendly flippancy that she didn't even realise until Samus had given a wry smirk from behind her visor with the reply, 'Later Trish.'  
  
And they had actually been friends from then, and somewhere along the line the names had stuck. They had nothing much in common, they both led very different lives, but they had somehow found themselves able to relax that bit more around each other, cut off from most people by reputation, genetics, or social inexperience. Samus could have something of the Chozo's philosophical bent in her thanks to the influence of their blood, and it gave Patricia's expansive mind something to play off. When they weren't just making idle banter or doing business that is.  
  
Patricia put the small box back in the security locker above her bed. There was also a good amount of fear on each side. Sam worried about her wasting her life away on the station. She could easily make so much more of herself, and live in a place where the crime rate wasn't as high. She was an ideal target in a place where criminals weren't afraid to use lethal force to get what they wanted; she was short, thin, attractive and profitable. If someone did go for her she wouldn't have been able to put up even a short fight. Patricia didn't think about that. She'd lived there most of her life, so she wasn't about to move now. The crime wasn't that bad, her apartment was in the better end of the station, and she had enough reputation that people would stick up for her, and notice if she was gone.  
  
On the other side Patricia feared for Sam's life. Her reputation had grown on her willingness to hunt metroids, the largest natural threat there was. And Sam was right, where there were metroids, there were people who were willing to risk everything for the power they held. Her suit was a technological marvel, but it didn't make her invulnerable. Patricia knew better than most that the jobs that Sam took, and the events that she had been thrown into, could easily have killed her many times over. But Samus wasn't going to stop and settle down, or even decide to give up taking such dangerous jobs. Whether they were contracts or undertaken of her own volition, Sam went after pirates, metroids, the X, because somewhere in there it she felt she had to do it. She knew she had a chance, and not many others did. What otherwise might take dozens of troops who might not make it out, she could do alone thanks to her suit, her tenacity and her simple skill at what she did. There was also something personal there, especially with the pirates. Something told her that Sam would even have gone up against the Federation if they crossed that line. Each time Sam talked about them she seemed to have less faith in them, and after their argument she worried that perhaps they already had.  
  
So, when Sam's path led her back they were always glad to see each other, and they could spend a little of their lives being themselves in each others company. Patricia doubted she could do without that now.  
  
But then, Sam hadn't been around after they had parted the day before last, and she only hoped she hadn't made a mistake. Or that Sam wasn't making too much out of what had happened to want to face her.

* * *

Cassidi station was a self governed public city station, one of many among under the flag of the Federation. However, those powers that were had far more important things to do than pick into the workings of each and every world that was counted as being within their jurisdiction, let alone those of each station. Though housing an advanced scientific community Cassidi didn't make special deals with the organisation that it was a protectorate of, so relied on its own commerce for its runnings. Consequently many luxuries that other stations had, Cassidi did not, and its governors had to spend prudently to survive. Because of that they had relied on manual dockside security and customs longer than perhaps they should have, meaning that the slowly blinking numbers in one of the security containers went unnoticed as it lay among the other stored cargo.  
  
12:43

* * *

"Hey Trish."  
  
Patricia stopped mid step in surprise. "Sam?"  
  
"I was actually coming to see you," Samus replied, to Patricia's relief. The hunter reached into the pocket of her blue-black leather shorts and pulled out a card, tossing it to her friend. The youthful technician looked down at it and frowned.  
  
"I don't want it," she said, holding out the credit card for Samus to take back. She didn't really expect her to though, and her friend didn't surprise her. It didn't matter how much Samus had put on there, she wasn't going to accept it without a fight.  
  
"You're going to take it whether you like it or not," Samus replied, her voice hard. "Medical expenses, danger money, whatever. And let's get inside. You don't talk about business in a corridor."  
  
Patricia reluctantly gave a nod and opened up her door again, the both of them going inside. Once out of public earshot however Patricia was right back were she left off. "I'm not taking your money. I quit the job, and of all the things I could want from you I sure as hell don't want pity, so don't you dare start doing that to me."  
  
"I don't want to argue with you Patricia..."  
  
Hearing her name like that made her stop as Samus continued.  
  
"...and this isn't about pity. You're a professional, and pros get paid for expenses."  
  
Patricia grasped the card painfully as her arm fell to her side. "I don't want to fight either. I was getting worried about you."  
  
Samus blinked as her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Worried? Why?"  
  
"Well, I haven't seen you for over a day." She thought about that. It sounded truly pathetic. "And, well, I guess I've gotten used to you being around when you're here. I thought you might've gone already... or something."  
  
Samus couldn't help but chuckle and took her usual seat on the bed, looking for all the world like a regular woman instead of someone who made her living hunting. Seeing her leaning back on her hands like that in her leather vest and shorts reminded Patricia of so much of their past. For as much as it showed her off, her cybernetically enhanced arm included, Sam liked that outfit.  
  
"No, I'm here for a while yet. I just needed some time to think. Sorry for giving you a hard time last time."  
  
"That's alright." Patricia plugged the credit card into her room terminal and the money put itself into her account. "How can you afford that anyway?" she asked, a little guilty about accepting the large amount it had shown.  
  
"My bounties pay well," Samus replied, the truth being transparent in its incompleteness.  
  
"Yeah, and you spend most of it on energy re-fills, ammunition, fuel, suit checkups and mods."  
  
Samus rolled her eyes and shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to spend it on. Anyway, I said the lab techs could check out my suit while I'm here, so I can afford it. They'll pay anything to get a proper look at it any chance they can get." She gave a sigh as Patricia took a seat.  
  
"Last night I realised I never thanked you for what you did when the X had me."  
  
"What?" Patricia blinked, becoming quiet. "What are you talking about? I couldn't even get there before you were up and gone again."  
  
Samus shook her head. "But you sent them all the suit information you had, and you probably know just as much as the techs at Federation headquarters. Maybe I'm not so comfortable about them knowing so much now, but it helped save my life. So thanks." She gave a quick huff and shook herself to get rid of her reflective mood, sitting back against the wall. "Anyway, we didn't get a chance to catch up properly last time. What have you been up to?"  
  
"Nothing much," Patricia replied. It always struck her as a little odd that Samus was willing to put up with her talking about such mundane things as they must have seemed to her, but then it went both ways. She had no clue about bounty hunting, but it didn't stop them talking about it. It was a sort of mutual understanding, nobody else listened to them ramble, so they rambled to each other. Well, Samus had the press and a few hero worshippers, but apparently they were worse than being ignored.  
  
"The docker's guild got me in to repair their main ship coupling systems so I worked on that for ages. They said with all the repeated repair costs they've had for them they'd rather pay through the nose for me and get it done properly. Their words."  
  
"Always nice to hear you're appreciated eh?" Samus said with a wry smile.  
  
"Oh the guy before that didn't even say thanks! A full wetware cybernetics job with the guys at the labs and all I got was a nod and a credit card. Labs techs get all the glory."  
  
Samus agreed with the fed up sound in her voice. "Sounds very familiar. Work with a big name and it's 'congratulations, here's your pay, we really are grateful, now we've got work to do so kindly get lost." She sighed, knowing how much of a whinge she must have sounded. "Sometimes it's the small, unimportant ones. They mean something to the contract holder even if it's nothing to you. It's worth doing just for that."  
  
"That's why I stay freelance," Patricia agreed. "You needn't take all the ones you do either."  
  
Samus almost chuckled. Patricia could really lack subtlety sometimes. "Nice hint. I'm fine with my jobs, it's the people behind them that annoy me, and I don't usually have to be around them long."  
  
Patricia gave an embarrassed smile. "It was worth a try. Ever think about the future though?"  
  
"Not really," Samus replied. "My life seems to have a reasonable idea about where it wants to go without me interfering, so there's not much point. I suppose I'll get too old for bounty hunting eventually, but I can deal with that when I come to it." She gave her friend an appraising look. "What about your plans?"  
  
Patricia looked down at her knees, a little embarrassed. "I guess that depends on marriage."  
  
Samus smiled at slight blush that formed across the girl's cheeks.  
  
"I think I'm ready to consider that now," Patricia continued. "I guess I'm fine as I am, but I'd like to be with someone, assuming I'd find someone like that."  
  
This was very new to Samus. Among all their talks, debates and commiserations relationships had never come up as a topic for real discussion before. Seeing as they weren't social people by nature it was a little surprising, although to be fair it wasn't as though she had assumed Trish was romantically dead. It was a side of her that was interesting to see, cute and embarrassed rather than quietly confident. "So... any candidates yet," she asked, gently probing.  
  
Patricia shook her head. "Not really. Well, yes, but I didn't do anything about it when I had the chance. Somehow I doubt I will. I like the idea, but it kind of scares me too. I wouldn't know how to deal with being in a relationship even if I was."  
  
"Twit," Samus reprimanded with amusement. "Just ask them and be yourself. If you try to be someone else it'll just fall apart because it's all an act. Swallow your fear for a second and it's all over, and win or lose you can get on with it."  
  
"I suppose you're right..." She gave a small smile. "But I'm a coward. I will eventually I guess."  
  
"Good girl," Samus said with approval. It was nice to be able to play the big sister a little. It was then that Patricia managed to put her off balance though.  
  
"The way you say it, you sound like you've been there before?" Even as a statement it was an unspoken question.  
  
"No. I've never really been in the position to deal with romance. It's just common sense though, you don't lose anything by going for it except your hopes, and if you're rejected they were false hopes anyway. Better to know, get on and maybe find it for real than live on dreams that won't happen, right?"  
  
"Very pragmatic Sam."  
  
Samus shrugged a little, then swung her legs up and crossed them where she sat on the bed. She looked like a girl at a sleepover, albeit one somewhere in her twenties wearing a blue-black leather vest and shorts. Patricia suddenly had an image of sleepover Samus in yellow and blue striped pyjamas with a fluffy metroid doll in her arms, but promptly tried to banish the strange mental picture as her friend began talking again.  
  
"Anyway, what else has been going on around here? You've already heard was I've been up to."  
  
"There's not much else to tell," Patricia said earnestly. "I've been tied up with the dock work, and this place isn't a hive of newsworthy activity. The Labs' petitions for more funding have gone through, we now have a second recreations block on the top level with a good pool, and if you want the gruesome details there was a stabbing in the market a fortnight ago. The guy died, as did the perpetrators when they decided to resist arrest and got on the wrong side of an automated gun."  
  
"This place never fails to impress me," Samus said, the sarcasm laden on her tongue. "What about now, what's the gizmo?" she asked, pointing to the device on Patricia's desk.  
  
"Oh, that's a quick job for the arcade hall. A new anti-hacking board. I thought the practice on software instead of hardware would do me good. It's done now, I just need to fit the main connectors."  
  
Samus grew a small grin and her eye let out a twinkle. "How about a game when you're done?"  
  
Patricia had to laugh at the thought. "Me in a VArcade game against Samus Aran? You're kidding!"  
  
Samus had known Patricia wouldn't have taken the offer seriously, and was rather glad of it. She had enough of that type of action, and in far greater quantities, in her work. She much preferred just being in company that allowed her to completely relax without worrying about her appearance or reputation.

* * *

3:16

* * *

Samus ignored the stares her right arm got her as she headed back to her quarters that evening. The metal protrusions were better than the scars the heavy connections her suit had left as a legacy of its infection with the X. At least the ones between her shoulder blades and at the base of her spine could be hidden beneath her clothing.  
  
The child following her paused as she gave the man looking at her a hard stare before carrying on. He didn't care what his mother said, he knew Samus Aran was the coolest person in the Galaxy. She was brave, strong, really pretty and just... cool! Not many people knew her outside her armour, but his Dad worked at the labs on her suit! His Dad told him what she looked like, and he'd seen her going home!  
  
His Dad had also said Samus didn't want people bugging her, so he couldn't go up and meet her or everyone would know. That left him trailing behind as she made her way back to her quarters, or at last he assumed that's where she was going. It was all living quarters that way.  
  
After a few minutes she finally stopped at one of the doors and put in her key card. The child looked around quickly to make sure there wasn't anyone else there before running out. "Wait, please."  
  
Samus turned to see the ten year old running over to her and blinked. She wasn't accosted by children very often. "Huh?"  
  
The boy had to catch his breath as he reached her, but he was beaming with accomplishment as he looked up. "You're... you're Samus... aren't you? You're really cool!"  
  
She didn't really know how to respond to that. She'd been called many things, but this was a first. "I am? Trust me kid, I'm not a great role model."  
  
"But you're strong and brave and fight metroids and pirates!" He faltered a little. Now he was actually face to face with her, he didn't really know what to say. Finally he blurted out, "Can I have your autograph?" but was a little disappointed when she frowned.  
  
"I don't do that kind of thing kid." The fallen look on his face as she said it softened her though. "But hey, I'm glad you think I do okay. Here." She held out her hand, which the boy eagerly shook.  
  
"Thanks Miss Samus," he said, beaming, before she sent him back home.  
  
"Weird," she said to herself before stepping inside. Without the added energy reserves of her suit to stave off her hunger it was about time she had something to eat.

* * *

0:00  
  
With a little bleep the cylindrical walls of the security pod slid down, viscous blue fluid pouring out onto the floor. Without the support of the liquid the small, faintly glowing form that had floated there sat in the pod's base, slowly waking from its forced slumber.  
  
This was different to the place it remembered, but it was very hungry. It let out a '_Squeee_!' as it floated up, and set out to find food, just like everyone else on the station.

* * *

Samus had only just let the now empty meal tray fall into the sink when her room buzzer sounded, followed by an urgent banging at the door. Opening it she was faced with a member of security, looking pale and worried.  
  
"Wha..?" he started, having expected someone very different to answer the door. "Excuse me," he said, flustered, "I'm looking for Samus Aran."  
  
"You've found her," Samus replied simply.  
  
"But..." The man shook his head. "Whatever. There's a metroid loose on the station! We've lost two men already, and three civilians. We want your help, or at least your advice!"  
  
Samus couldn't believe her ears. How the hell did a _metroid_ get on the station? "...You're kidding me," she said under her breath as the thought.  
  
"No Ma'am," the guard said seriously, "I'm not."  
  
In an instant she was all business. "Give me a radio and I'll get my suit," she said firmly. The guard tuned his radio in and did as he was told and she took off down the hall towards the labs.  
  
"Okay," she said as she ran, "Where is it?"  
  
"What?" came the reply from the other end. "Who is this?"  
  
Samus gritted her teeth in frustration. "Samus Aran, licensed bounty hunter. Where is the metroid?"  
  
The voice replied at once. "The Boatman Restaurant by the customs port. Our weapons don't seem to do anything to it! Ballistic rounds just slide of or get stopped inside the thing and blaster rounds don't do a damn thing to it!"  
  
"Wait, you can puncture it?" Samus asked, surprised.  
  
"Yes, for all the good it does."  
  
That came as a big relief. "It must be young then, and pretty small right?"  
  
"Not quite a foot across I'd guess."  
  
Samus didn't pay any attention to the loud crashing that followed over the radio. "Okay, tell your people to aim for the nuclei, they might get lucky and do some damage if they can penetrate far enough, or go for the mandibles. Break them and it'll be harder for it to grab anyone. Just stay away from it, I'm on my way."  
  
"Roger."  
  
That was a major point in her favour. As nasty as they could get they were flighty and naive seeming creature when young, meaning it wouldn't be too hard for her to deal with it. Simple attack patterns, easily avoided and countered. She tried to keep her memories pressed down. Having her mind clouded by the memory of a young metroid had led her to some unpleasantly close calls before.

* * *

When she got to the lab however her hopes shattered. "What do you mean you TOOK IT APART?!" Samus yelled, hefting the scientist up by his collars.  
  
"We were studying it and you said we had plenty of time. I can assure you we can re-assemble it perfectly, we only did what we knew we could undo." The thin tech's words, confident as they were, were laced with the fear he felt towards being in Samus' power.  
  
None of that mattered to Samus. "I _need_ it _NOW_!"  
  
"I know, we've heard. The entire station is locked down, but it will take at least eleven hours to re-assemble it!"  
  
Samus cursed and roughly let the man go. That was more than enough time to the creature to kill everyone in that block if it was given the chance. She turned on her heels and dashed out, re-tuning the radio to a number she had long since memorised.  
  
"Trish! Trish, turn on the speaker already!"  
  
A moment later Patricia's voice came down the line from her apartment's phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Trish, it's Samus, my suit's in pieces and I need something I can fight a metroid with!"  
  
"WHAT! You're not going in to fight it like that are you? You might as well be naked and hog-tied! Leave it to the security staff, please Sam!"  
  
Even though she couldn't be seen Samus shook her head. "These guys are trained for muggers and shoplifters, not metroids Trish. Just find something and meet me at the Boatman, because I'm doing it with or without your help."  
  
There was a heavy pause, broken only by Samus' heavy breathing as she ran.  
  
"Okay, I'll find something and be there, but don't do anything before I get here Sam."  
  
"Thanks." Samus flicked the radio off and stuck it on her waistband before careering around another corner, her mind buzzing, trying to think of a plan of attack that wouldn't leave her dead.

* * *

The scene was a riot. Outside the restaurant a huge crowd hung in spite of the danger, seemingly sure that the little green creature wouldn't break through the glass and come for them. Samus knew the only reason they were safe was that there must have been someone alive in there, or else it would have zipped into the crowd in seconds, assuming it hadn't had its fill and floated off to hide. At least three people were on stretchers, the medics running a futile race to try and keep them alive.  
  
Patricia had managed to get there ahead of her, and ran over with more fear in her face than Samus had ever seen, or ever wanted to see. The tech knew however there was no convincing her otherwise and had done as she had been asked. Without a word she thrust the foot long tool into Samus' hands.  
  
"It's an industrial welding iron. It's the best thing I could come up with, but on full power it should be enough to get through the metroid's skin." Holding Samus' hands in her own she activated the iron and in seconds the tip of the rod-like tool began to glow red, then white. "The radiation output at the end won't do more than make it uncomfortable, so you'll have to trap it against a wall or something, keep it in the same place and burn into it."  
  
She flipped the switch further and the glow spread down one side of the thin pole. "Or use it this way like a knife or something, but that way it isn't nearly as hot. Spreading solder fill is easier than welding steel. It's all hand to hand though, so please be careful."  
  
Samus gave her a brief smile before dashing off and into the diner, "Thanks Trish, you're a lifesaver."  
  
Patricia just looked after her, her hands clasped at her front before going to watch the battle through the window. "Don't die on me Sam."

* * *

Had the metroids not been such bizarre creatures the scene inside could easily have been called carnage. The chairs and tables had been thrown around, constructing crude cover as bodies lay strewn across the floor, either dead or partially drained as the metroid flew above them, weaving haphazardly under the gunfire the security team threw at it, to almost no effect. A bloodless battleground where humans had the numbers, firepower and intellect, but fell all the same beneath the jaws of this alien child.  
  
The metroid made another charge and the pair of guards it aimed for dove away. It was a fraction too late. The vampiric creature managed to hook onto one man's leg, sending him screaming to the deck, his life force slowly beginning to flow away as it fed and his partner making a frantic effort to remove it.  
  
Samus grabbed the man she assumed was in charge. "I'm Aran. Any luck?"  
  
The older man turned around, concerned for his officer. "What? No not yet, though we've got a pattern going so it can't stay attached, but we can't hold out forever. We've broken one of its teeth like you said, but it just uses the other to hook on mid flight instead of grab."  
  
Samus nodded as she watched the officer tear the metroid from his partner's leg, skin coming away in the creature's maw as he finally managed it. "Okay, I'll go in and try and take it down from close range. If it backs off or I pull back then open fire, otherwise leave it to me. If it goes after your people I'll try and put it down there and then."  
  
The chief nodded and repeated the orders to his men as Samus leaped over the toppled table, just in time to see the metroid grab the other officer. She made a sprint for it and lunged out, but the white hot tip of her weapon skittered across its tough surface, leaving burned patches on the still maturing skin. It must have been enough however as the creature let go with a piercing shriek, floating off and away from the pair.  
  
It must be real naive if it let go after that, Samus thought as she readied herself and the metroid came to a halt. Usually they wouldn't release their prey for anything short of near lethal damage or an attack to the mouthparts. Neither was an option now since she didn't have her beam cannon or morph ball and bombs to rely on. The chances were it wouldn't fall for it again.  
  
The creature hovered there for a second, as if regarding her even though it had no eyes. It tilted and swayed letting out a string of squeaks that to Samus almost sounded confused. It wasn't going for her? Before the guards could open fire it let out a vicious sounding screech and lunged for her. Samus only just leapt in time to avoid the seemingly enraged thing, batting it ineffectually as it went past her. It came around for another pass, the short hail of bullets levelled at it only serving to bump it off its course a little before it flew back at Samus.  
  
This time she was ready for it. If there was one thing about metroids they were always predictable at first, and it came flying at her jaws first, ready to latch onto her the second it hit. Instead it hit the white hot tip of Samus' welding iron which slipped right between its mangled mandibles and shot through into its viscous centre. Samus could actually see its gelatinous body bubble inside its tough skin before the creature shot back off the tool, screaming in agony as steam escaped from its maw. She had missed the nuclei though, only causing superficial damage. She just prayed she had another chance like that. Something in her mind kept trying to bring up her tactical HUD to see exactly how she had done, but it was just another ghost of her missing suit.  
  
The metroid however kept screaming as its body burned, the radiation from the iron hurting its cellular mind as much as the heat hurt its body. Samus knew it was too small to be really learning from its mistakes, but the way it was now keeping close to her, out of the fire from the security staff meant it wasn't completely naive. It wasn't as large or as tenacious as most she had faced on Tallon Four, but bigger than her newborn. She wasn't going to say it was smarter though, her newborn deserved more than that.  
  
The metroid shrieked again, making another charge and Samus hoped it would fall for the same trick twice. She didn't have such luck however, as it rolled in mid air just as it reached her, taking a burn to its top then swinging over to latch its jaws into her shoulder. No! Samus cried in her mind, letting herself fall back but knowing she couldn't miss the teeth. She then thanked whatever stars there might have been looking over her just then, because it was the shattered mandible that hit, scraping over her skin but not letting it latch on. Euphoria at her luck washed over Samus and she made another swipe as caught herself on her knees, scoring another scorching strike to the metroid's top.  
  
Despite her elation at surviving the creature's now apparent cunning she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. She needed a good damaging attack. This time the metroid wasn't going to play her game though, and it kept close, ready and waiting, but not actually going for her, leaving her to thrust at it as it bobbed and weaved in front of her, none of her few hits doing anything to slow it down despite her early success.  
  
She managed to get another good hit between the jaws on its next run, feinting back as it came at her to meet its underside and scorch the edge of one of its nuclei, but as they fought on she began to realise that she would lose simply through exhaustion. She didn't have her suit's help to keep going under the stress and encroaching fatigue. Her eyes glanced across the window, seeing everyone out there cheering for her or hiding their eyes behind their hands. She even caught a glimpse of Patricia's anxious face before she brought her attention back to her opponent.  
  
It had been a distraction she couldn't afford. The young metroid was already in mid charge and she made a desperate swing to bat it away, but it only wobbled with the blow and changed its target from her head to her chest. She force of the impact knocked her right off her feet as the creature buried its good tooth into her right breast, smaller teeth punching through her leather vest and into her skin as it began to suck her life away. In that instant she had the most disturbing image, her heart on one side of her chest, the metroid on the other, each as integral to her life as the other. Looking down in fear induced shock it almost looked like it was nursing. Almost.  
  
It must be such a let down for that kid, she thought in that strange split second of her life. I hope Trish doesn't take it too hard either.  
  
Then it struck her, this was her chance. Grasping the metroid to her in one hand she brought the iron down on it. The alien animal screeched as it clung on, determined to kill its prey in spite of the pain, and Samus grinned through her exhaustion as she felt the thick membrane finally give way. The creature screamed for all it was worth, now struggling to get free, but it was too late. Samus managed to look down at herself from where she lay, saw the nuclei, and stabbed down on one with her iron. The metroid screamed louder than she had ever heard, twitching violently in her grasp, but that didn't matter now. It had left her with enough energy to kill it. She activated the side of the iron then pulled across, slowly, very slowly, carving the creature open. This was the same feeling she'd had when she'd finally found a way to take down the prime metroid. Power!  
  
She threw the mangled creature off her and staggered to her knees. It took every bit of energy she had, to raise the iron in her hands over the dying animal, but it would be worth it for the kill. Then the creature mewled at her. It was such a soft, pitiful sound. Somehow, she knew it was afraid. She didn't even know if metroids were capable of emotion, but it was afraid of her. With its one good mandible it made a last effort to crawl away, but its split and burnt body was too far gone to let it move.  
  
"_Squeee_."  
  
She couldn't take her eyes away as her arms fell to her sides. It looked so helpless now. A wounded animal that had been punished for doing what was natural.  
  
"_Squee_."  
  
It really did remind her of the hatchling that had followed her so playfully for so long. What did it matter that it looked so strange to everyone's eyes? It wasn't the horror that everyone made it out to be. It shouldn't have been put in this position in the first place. Why was it even here?  
  
"_squee_."  
  
Samus felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Patricia's tear stained face. She looked like she had been through hell and back. Samus looked back down to the metroid and brought the iron slowly over its other nucleus, trying not to hear its whimpers. I'm sorry.  
  
She thrust the iron forwards and the metroid gave one final high pitched cry before it fell silent. Then the exhaustion and drain on her energy finally asserted itself, and Samus blacked out.

* * *

"... and they said as soon as I get back into my suit the lethargy will pass. The bio-chemical symbiotic balancing will help apparently."  
  
Patricia nodded as she sat at her friend's hospital bedside. "I'm just glad you're going to be okay. I thought you were... gone, for a second there. I've never been so scared as when I was watching you there, or when you collapsed."  
  
Samus nodded, and looked over to the doorway to make sure the doctor wasn't listing in. "To be honest, I thought that might have been it. I was lucky it wasn't a fast feeder."  
  
"How can you joke about this?" Patricia asked quietly. "I thought you were dead. Is it always like that?"  
  
"No," Samus replied seriously. "A lot of the time I don't have much trouble with jobs. Sometimes it gets tricky, but usually not that bad. I have the suit to rely on as well, so while it's always worse than that I'm much better equipped to deal with it. One like that I could have killed without much trouble at all."  
  
Patricia hesitated for a moment. "...Why didn't you finish it straight away?"  
  
Samus took another glance at the door before answering. "I felt sorry for it. It was just an animal."  
  
"But it was a _metroid_!"  
  
"That doesn't make any difference," Samus replied. "Sure, I had to, but it was just doing what it was born... hatched to do. Survive as best it can. You know, sometimes I feel guilty about exterminating them. Sure, it was a job, but that's practically genocide. It would be if they didn't keep appearing. Seeing it like that on the floor, it just reminded me that it was fighting for its life the same as I was, only it did it to feed too."  
  
She looked up into Patricia's confused eyes. "Did you see when I first hit it? It didn't come right at me. And when it did it was mad, if they can get mad. I've been thinking, maybe it didn't feel angry, but betrayed. It didn't know what to make of me except that I attacked it."  
  
"Samus," Patricia said kindly, trying not to sound condescending, "Metroids don't have emotions. They aren't built like that."  
  
Samus shook her head. "We don't know how their intellect works either. Maybe they can feel things. I found a baby one once, it hatched right in front of me, and I couldn't get the little thing to leave me alone. I could tell that it felt differently depending on what was happening, and that one wasn't even the size of my hand." She opened her palm in reference. "I got kind of attached to it after a while. Until it died. In my next mission."  
  
"I believe you," said Patricia, and meant it. The scientists could study and say all they liked, but Samus was probably the best first hand knowledge there was. The sad, conflicted look in her friend's eyes only helped the concept sink in harder. "So what was it doing here?"  
  
Samus frowned. "That's what I want to know. Why would anyone let a metroid loose on a space station intentionally, and who would be stupid enough to let one escape by accident."  
  
Patricia couldn't even begin to guess. Galactic politics and power struggles weren't her strong point. "I haven't a clue."  
  
"Me either. The only one I've come up with, egotistical as it is, is that someone's trying to ruin my reputation. Turn me from the hunter who fights metroids into a metroid magnet who puts everyone at risk." She didn't believe that for a moment though. "But private corporations wouldn't have any reason to, and I doubt the pirates have the resources yet after everything I've done to them. The Federation... I'm too valuable for them to do that, even if we aren't on good terms right now."  
  
The pair sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. This was a real mess.  
  
"So what now?" Patricia finally asked.  
  
Samus knew that at least. "I can't stay here; it's too volatile for now. I'm going to do some investigation through my own channels before I take another job."  
  
Patricia had feared that. "Looking for people who might deal with metroids, right? Find out why this happened?"  
  
Samus nodded.  
  
"Can't you just... leave them now? These things are going to end up ruling your life."  
  
Samus looked at her seriously. "They already do. I'm famous for hunting them. I've captured them. I've lived with them in my dreams for years. I have them _inside_ me, metroid DNA amongst my own. The X would have killed me without that, so I even owe my life to them. Maybe that's why it seemed betrayed, because it knew there's some of it in me. There's no escape, so I'm going to go along. If I run they'll only chase me, and this way maybe I can leave them behind one day."  
  
Patricia nodded. There was no way she could change Samus' mind, and she wouldn't have wanted to anyway. This was what made Samus who she was. "Okay." She got up and headed for the door. "When you're ready, leave right away. People are already talking, and I don't think you'll want the media here."  
  
Samus smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, I don't want to be a celebrity. It'll die down soon enough."  
  
"And I'll make the gun."  
  
Samus blinked, unsure of what she had heard. "What?"  
  
"The phazon cannon," Patricia said gravely, "I'll make it. But I won't make it a permanent upgrade; you'll need to attach the mod when you want to use it. I won't risk using dual power feeds. It probably won't be quite as powerful as the one you discovered before either."  
  
"Why?" Samus asked, "Why do it after-"  
  
Patricia didn't let her finish. "Because I believe you, and it will help, even if there aren't any more enemies like the prime you faced. After what I saw yesterday..." She paused not willing to finish that sentence. She had been terrified of what she had seen, and if that was only a fragment of what Samus had faced, then she would do anything she could to help in her fight. She couldn't not act now.  
  
She lowered her eyes as she stood in the doorway. "Just... please, make it back here to collect it."  
  
Samus' reply of, "Don't worry, I will," came as Patricia turned and left, leaving the bounty hunter to herself and her thoughts. Patricia was wasted on the station, she thought, and on her.  
  
This had to stop. The black and white of her life and her ideals had slowly been blurred, mission by mission, and right now she was convinced there was so little of either left amidst the sea of grey that it was beyond her to find a way to finish it properly. But she was going to be damned before she stopped trying. Maybe one day that kid's faith in her might be justified, and maybe she would be able to repay a little of the care, concern and compassion that Trish had given so freely to someone like her.

* * *

Patricia stared out of the window as she sat on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees. She knew the chances of glimpsing Sam's ship as it left were tiny, but she looked all the same. It wasn't fair. She was losing her again, and again she worried that she might never see her again, especially after the last few days. With Samus it was all the worse not least because of the dangers she faced when she wasn't on the station, where Patricia knew she was safe. At least, safe most of the time.  
  
The last few days had shaken her greatly. She had really been adamant about not building that weapon, but that had changed as she saw her best friend with a metroid clamped to her chest. Every now and then something happens that makes you change your perspective on the universe, and this had been one of those times. In some ways it both strengthened and undermined her resolve.  
  
She played her fingers across the small box in her hand, once again out of the security locker. She'd had it for a long time now, and now more than ever she wanted to use it, but it was also now more than ever that she couldn't. It was too complicated.  
  
She flipped the purple felt covered lid open, allowing her fingertips to slide over the metal.  
  
One day she might be able to bring herself to deal with it. She hoped that was the case, but she didn't want to lose the friendship that meant so much to her now, and the more she put it off the harder it seemed to become. Even when it was staring her in the face, like it had been this time. They hadn't had an argument like that before either. That had been new and not very pleasant, but it had ended up alright in the end, and Samus had gotten her way after all anyway. Even so, Patricia couldn't begrudge her that. She doubted she could begrudge her anything anymore.  
  
Out in space she caught a glimmer of light as another ship left, its course taking it past her window. Was that Sam? She doubted it, but she allowed herself to believe anyway. She let her eyes fall from the starry void and they came to rest on the open box as she held it out in front of her, a simple gold ring nestled amongst the soft purple cloth.  
  
"I suppose you're right..." She could feel her eyes moisten even as she tried to smile. "But I'm a coward."

* * *

The End

* * *

Please take the time to give me some feedback and let me know what you thought. Thanks.  
  
Credit goes to Richard King for his proof reading assistance.  
  
(c) 2004 Nutzoide


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